CNN Suspends Paris Dennard In Wake Of Sexual Misconduct Reports

CNN announced that they have suspended contributor Paris Dennard after it was reported he was fired from a previous job for sexual misconduct.

According to The Washington Post, Dennard was terminated from his job at Arizona State University in 2014 “for making sexually explicit comments and gestures toward women, according to documents and a university official.”

While working as events director at the university’s McCain Institute for International Leadership, The Washington Post said that Dennard told a recent graduate who worked for him that he wanted to have sex with her. A university report said that he “pretended to unzip his pants in her presence, tried to get her to sit on his lap, and made masturbatory gestures.”

Dennard was praised by Donald Trump for criticizing Phil Mudd, a former counterterrorism official with the CIA. He worked for Trump during his presidential campaign and is a member of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships. In addition to being a CNN contributor, he wrote for The Hill and appeared on NPR’s Here & Now as a regular guest.